PM Modi Unveils Govt Health Insurance For ALL Senior Citizens： Features, Coverage, How To Apply

During the elections, I gave a guarantee that in the third term, all the elders above the age of 70 will be brought under the Ayushman Yojana. Today, this guarantee is being fulfilled on PM Jayanti. Now, all the elders above the age of 70 will get free treatment in hospitals. The government is trying to ensure that all the elders above the age of 70 get the Ayushman Vaibhavandana Card as soon as possible. This is a Yojana in which there is no restriction of age. Everyone can become a beneficiary of this Yojana, be it a poor, middle-class or upper-class family. In a big move, the Union Government has decided to expand the Ayushman Bharat Health Insurance Scheme to cover all citizens who are above the age of 70 in India. Basically, income level restrictions have been removed and all senior citizens will now get medical coverage. Earlier, the scheme catered to the economically disadvantaged and covered 40% of the population. Now, 6 crore more people from over 4.5 crore families are included in this umbrella. This marks a significant shift in India's public healthcare landscape and is a bid to address growing healthcare needs in the face of rising medical costs. This may help ease the anxiety of India's ageing citizens who find it hard to manage disease burden due to high costs without a social security net. As per the government, this move is essential as India shifts towards nuclear families and there's more financial burden on elderly individuals. So now, each beneficiary who's over 70 years will get a new health card through which they can get access to healthcare benefits. Here are some of the important features of the revised scheme. All age 70 and above will be eligible for 5 lakh rupee health coverage which is applicable on a family basis. This means that many senior citizens, if they are in the same family are eligible, the 5 lakh coverage is divided among them. Even right now, the scheme is income based and all members of eligible families get 5 lakh annual shared coverage. So the amount is still split between all members of a family. But now, even those senior citizens who are already covered under the scheme on the basis of family income, they will get an additional 5 lakh rupee top up which is specifically for their own use. Those who have private health insurance however can avail of the scheme benefits without it conflicting with their existing coverage. So now what exactly does the Ayushman Bharat scheme in itself cover? It basically provides secondary and tertiary hospitalization to 55 crore people and now of course the net will be increased. It covers pre-hospitalization costs up to 3 days and post up to 15 days. It also covers non-critical illnesses, things like lung cancer, stroke and paralysis are not included. OPD and home treatments are not covered either. Most private health insurance plans start from about 2000 rupees per month and currently have a broader range as opposed to the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Also while private insurance includes a large network of empanelled private hospitals, Ayushman Bharat includes both private and public government hospitals. The central and state governments pay the insurance premiums in a 60 to 40 ratio. The initial outlay of the scheme will be 3437 crore rupees. The government says that as demand increases the coverage will also be increased. As per reports while most states will put 40% of the bill like they are now, for hilly regions and the northeast the centre will bend 90% of the cost. As per estimates the cost of expanding the coverage to everyone above the age of 70 will be higher than covering the poorest 40% across all age groups. This because of their higher medical needs and this amount is only going to grow. As per studies India's population above the age of 60 will increase from 8.6% in 2011 to 19.5% by 2050. Currently health coverage in this group is estimated at about 20%. Thanks to the expansion of this scheme this coverage should rise multifold in the months to come. Hope you found this video informative. For more such content keep watching Mint.